"Never buy anything from someone who’s out of breath!" goes the advice of movie bad guy Michael Madsen.

***

The crowd that merged into Diane von Furstenberg’s downtown shop on 14th and 9th Streets for her recent Gloria Vanderbilt book party caused the hostess, who is fashion’s Wonder Woman, to stop and think.

Many people stood outside the entrance, gathering on the sidewalk under an awning to escape raindrops. "Hmmm," said the perspicacious Diane, looking around. "This spot right here on the sidewalk! Wouldn’t it make a great outdoor café? I have to look into that."

Like Jack Benny when the robber asks "Your money or your life!" – the fashionable president of The Council of Fashion Designers of America is thinking … thinking … always thinking.

***

I was exiting the stunning café Convivio, just across from the refurbished and dazzling Tudor City Park when who do I see at a table but Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter and his delectable wife Anna, along with ace writer Alex Witchel and the fabled columnist Frank Rich of The New York Times.

Graydon sprang up and detained me. "I was just saying this is really a great place to take someone with whom you are having an affair and you don’t want to be seen or noticed – when who do we encounter but a gossip columnist!"

Me, a gossip columnist? I thought I was a social and show-business philosopher. Fortunately, the Carters and Riches are two happily married couples with nothing to hide.

***

As I write this, one of the finest, sweetest, most talented men I’ve ever met, the great architect Charles Gwathmey, has just been laid to rest in a private service in East Hampton. He died from esophageal cancer at only age 71 after a year of struggle.

The Times has done a massive obit and his famous and celebrated architectural works were definitely his life. At least the part that wasn’t wholly dedicated to his wife, Bette-Ann, and their daughters. I am heartbroken along with them. I really loved Charles. There will be a memorial service later in the fall, to be announced.

***

Le Cirque’s Sirio Maccioni is about to be moved from intensive care at New York Presbyterian to a regular hospital room. Recovering from open-heart surgery, the maestro-of-meals hasn’t been allowed to receive anyone to date. Now he’ll be flooded by well-wishers as he enters rehab.

Sirio has to be trim, slim and fit by October 18, when his Le Cirque celebrates its 35th anniversary. I will be at the entrance that evening welcoming people as one of the restaurant’s maitre d’s. The event benefits Gael Greene’s City-Meals-on-Wheels. Save the date.

***

The writer Jim Kaplan celebrated two triumphs this week. He turned in Volume I of his biography on none other than Frank Sinatra to Doubleday. We will have a peek at it next summer. Though Kaplan declines to tell his title, Volume I will cover the era from 1915 to 1954 when Sinatra won the Oscar for "From Here to Eternity."

Kaplan is also assuming the nom-de-plume of Parade magazine’s famous Walter Scott, the question-and-answer man. This popular feature has lately been under the fine Italian hand of Ed Klein who has moved on to his own book writing.